Friday, February 6, 2015

King Vikramaditya Gold coin establishes truth

King Vikramaditya, or Vikram of the ‘Vikram and Baital’ fables, is a not historical figure, after all.

And behind this giant leap from fable to history is a little gold coin.

According to researchers of the Maharaja Vikramaditya Shodhpeeth in Ujjain, this coin is the first definitive archaeological evidence of the monarch.

There is a mention of Vikramaditya in the ancient text Bhavishya Puran that chronicles the names of Hindu dynasties. It says he ruled Malwa — which includes parts of present day western Madhya Pradesh and southeastern Rajasthan — from 57BC and Ujjain was his capital. But while stories about him abound, as the German philologist Max Mueller once said, there is no documentary evidence of his existence.

In December, a private collector brought this coin, found on the banks of the Kshipra in Ujjain, to Shodhpeeth for authentication.Shodhpeeth researchers claim that while terracotta and copper seals and coins with references to Vikramaditya have been found, this coin with a portrait of the king on one side and typical first century BC symbolisms on the other is nailing evidence.King Chandragupta Maurya defeated Seleucus Nicator of Persia . He took battles in to territory enemy's choice and defeated them in their own battlefields .No other King could repeat his feat of crossing Khyber for battles beyond.2.In 326 BC, Chandragupta Maurya was just a teenager when Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded India through khyber pass . Facing stiff resistance all through what is now Pakistan, and hampered by the high Hindu-Kush Mountains, Alexander’s army won at the Battle of Jhelum (or Hydaspes River) and defeated Raja Puru (King Poros) near modern-day Bhera, Pakistan, through offensive use of the Macedonian cavalry’s horses . Alexander the great went back after defeat of Raja Puru. 3.Chandragupta Maurya was the first emperor and the last king to unify most of Greater India into one single entity . He ruled from 322 BCE until his voluntary abdication in 298 BC in favor of his son King Bindusara ( father of King Ashok )The Empire was hard fought in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India, taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward byAlexander's Hellenic armies. By 316 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander the Great. 4..In 305 BCE, King Chandragupta decided to expand his Mauryan empire into Persia ruled by Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire, and a former general under Alexander. Chandragupta seized a large area in eastern Persia and defeated Seleucus. In the peace treaty that ended this war, Chandragupta got control of that land as well as the hand of one of Seleucus’s daughters in marriage. In exchange, Seleucus got 500 war elephants - which he put to good use at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE.5.The Maurya Empire was one of the world's largest empires in its time, and the largest ever in the Indian subcontinent. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, to the east into Assam, to the west into Balochistan (south west Pakistan and south east Iran) and the Hindu Kush mountains of what is now Afghanistan and parts of Persia .6.In 298 BCE, the emperor renounced his rule, handing over power to his son Bindusara. Chandragupta traveled south to a cave at Shravanabelogola, now in Karntaka. There, the founder of the Mauryan Empire meditated without eating or drinking for five weeks, until he died of starvation THROUGH sallekhana or santhara.7.King Ranjit Singh and Hari singh Nalwa ruled over Khyber pass but did not venture beyond it . It is should be noted that ,After a period of twenty three hundred years of unremitting defeats for the armies from India against every invading army, General Sam Manikshaw experienced the glow of a stunning victory against the Pakistan army in what is now Bangla Desh. It was a victory worthy to rank amongst the great victories and a campaign as brilliant as any in history.